Guide

Where To Eat & Drink With Your Dog

Where to eat and drink in San Francisco with your best dog friend.

Your dog puts a lot of time and emotional resources into being your most steadfast, loyal, and vocally hungry companion. So he or she deserves a meal out every once in a while, too. Here are 23 great pet-friendly situations in SF where your favorite animal can watch you eat everything from tacos and breakfast sandwiches to some of the best mussels around. He or she might even be more excited than you are about the burrata at Beretta. Maybe.

the spots

Devil’s Teeth bakes their own dog treats, which we’re 99% sure are really just cookies, and it’s the only place we’ve ever been tempted to try something intended for dogs. Luckily, the Outer Sunset bakery makes incredible human food, too - specifically cinnamon rolls and breakfast sandwiches. Get yourself breakfast, grab a treat for your pup, and sit outside while making friends with all the other dogs and humans doing the same.

If your dog is anything like ours, a day at the beach is the canine equivalent of eating copious amounts of candy and then winning the lottery. They are pumped. Hook Fish Co. is two blocks from the beach, and has lots of outdoor benches where you can eat some extremely fresh fish tacos (or a fish burrito, sandwich, or salad) with your better, furrier half.

There will probably be a wait for brunch at Kitchen Story, but that’s OK - more time to find your dog a new soul mate before eating some fantastic millionaire’s bacon. On the border of the Castro and the Mission, this place does serious brunch (the pancakes and ribeye fried rice are other things you’re going to want). And there’s an outdoor set-up with two rows of sidewalk tables, so your odds of getting an outdoor seat are higher.

If you happen to be in Noe Valley with an animal on a leash, hit Novy for a very satisfying and hearty brunch. The omelets are quite good - especially the Dolores with salmon and mushrooms - and the breakfast burrito will take care of that hangover you might potentially be nursing.

Sidewalk tables obviously mean dogs are allowed, and if that isn’t the case, it’s time to find a new restaurant. A Mano is one of the few Hayes spots with outdoor tables for you and your ride or die. Conveniently, we also ride or die for the bucatini and fontina arancini.

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Both Delarosa locations (off Market by Yerba Buena and in the Marina) have a lot of outdoor tables, and are essentially the San Francisco version of the Westminster Dog Show. At the Marina location in particular, you’re almost guaranteed to see three to five dogs hanging outside at any time, and at least one of them will have a legitimate seat at the table. Oh yeah - they have good food for people here, too. Brunch is especially underrated, and tends to be less crowded than dinner. The polenta with eggs and mushrooms is what you want.

Maybe your dog has a drinking problem. Maybe your dog is a street performer who’s extremely adept at handstands and has a lot of cash to burn. Maybe you just need a beer. Toronado, in Lower Haight, is dog-friendly, cash-only, and a very divey and chill place to get a semi-obscure beer with your friends (human or animal). While they don’t serve food in the bar, Rosamunde Sausage is right next door if you need some sustenance.

You now feed your French Bulldog a fish-based diet because it really helped clear up his skin. Maybe you should treat your body with the same TLC you bestow upon your pet. Nourish Cafe, in the Inner Richmond, is all plant-based food that’s very good for you (and probably your skin?), not to mention tasty. The place isn’t big, but they cram a lot of sidewalk tables in their little zone so that you can eat breakfast or lunch alongside Pepper. We’re big fans of the acai bowls for breakfast and bibimbap bowl with tofu for lunch, and the 7am opening time on weekday mornings is a blessing. You’re up walking the dog - might as well get some bowl-based nutrition while you’re at it.

When you hear the name “Stable Cafe,” you might presume the place in question will be creepily horse-themed. But this all-day Mission spot is the opposite of that. It has excellent coffee and a breakfast and lunch menu with some Latin tinges (chilaquiles, huevos rancheros). The main draw is the huge side patio/garden area that, if it were to be sold, could probably make way for multiple-million dollar apartments (but let’s agree to forget we ever said that, since we want this place to stick around). Dogs are welcome/encouraged.

The Nopa area is not the most dog-friendly place, since Divisadero tends to be heavily trafficked with not a lot of outdoor seating. But The Mill actually has outdoor seats where you and any and all dogs can have coffee and toasts (we usually go for the almond butter on the sesame whole wheat) and forget that you probably do have to go to work at some point.

If the free dog treats don’t sell you on bringing your dog to Palm House’s Happy Hour, maybe the $7 Old Cubans and $5 sweet potato fries will. The outdoor area on Union St. has tons of tables and is very dog-friendly, with a water bowl plus free head scratches doled out by every Lululemon-wearing person passing by.

Tons of outdoor seats and very friendly staff make Rose’s a go-to for a dog-friendly lunch, brunch, or breakfast. The dinner here is a bit boring, so we tend to stick to the daytime meals, which works out well if your dog considers nighttime and naptime to be synonymous. The granola is a good order in the morning, but if you’re feeling less virtuous, go for a breakfast pizza.

Our Monday nights usually involve trudging home from work and eating leftovers while trying to gather the courage to face the rest of the week. But Zazie is having none of that. On Monday nights they allow dogs on the heated back patio, and they have $10 off all bottles of wine (plus, there are dog treats). On other days of the week when you can’t bring Milo to the patio, the front sidewalk tables work well enough. There will be a line on the weekends, but the pancakes and French toast are stellar.

Brass Tacks doesn’t seem like an obviously dog-friendly bar - there aren’t any outdoor seats, and it’s kind of small. But there’s also no food, which means they’ll let you bring your pup inside to hang at the bar or in the sofa-filled area out back. The cocktails are great, but really, you’re just here to have beers with your best non-human bud.

Parks and dogs go together like avocadoes and toast. Yes, it’s the most basic combination out there, but that doesn’t mean it’s not right. Duboce Park Cafe is, unsurprisingly, right next to Duboce Park, and has a huge sidewalk patio where you can eat omelets and sandwiches while your dog stares at you (or, more accurately, the omelets and sandwiches) longingly. The whole place feels very low-key and neighborhoody in the best way possible.

Maybe your dog’s masseuse has an office overlooking the Bay to better soothe his customers, and that’s why you’re downtown. Maybe the idea of a masseuse for dogs just made both you and your wallet cringe. Whatever your reason for being near Union Square/FiDi, head over to Plouf. Back on a side street with only pedestrian traffic, it’s ideal for dogs and also for you, because the mussels here are truly fantastic. The staff will bring you a water bowl for the pup, and we hear dogs like bread baskets just as much as humans.

One of the best spots for a midday meal in the Sunset, Outerlands is both very relaxed and very dog-friendly. Due to the location, it can be pretty chilly, so bring some layers, eat some delicious grilled cheese, and then treat yourselves with a walk on the beach. (And by treat we mean try to prevent your dog from eating seaweed and dead crabs.)

Afternoon beers and burgers are even better when you’re hand-feeding your dog french fries. Monk’s Kettle in the Mission has way better food than it needs to, plus a bunch of outdoor tables where your dog is welcome. The beer list has several pages with all the types of beer you can imagine, so you may need a few orders of fries to tide you and Baxter over while you make your way through it.

While most of the time in the Mission you need to be watching to make sure your dog doesn’t inhale a small bag of weed off the sidewalk, at Beretta you just need to keep vigilant over your meat and cheese. Lots of outdoor tables and a very pet-friendly atmosphere make this one of our go-tos for dinner or brunch with the BFF. You know the drill: order the burrata.

The corner location of Tacolicious in the Marina has double the outdoor tables, which means double the space for dogs to roam around trying to eat fallen chips that are too flat for them to actually get in their mouths. Or maybe that’s just our dog. Brunch here is underappreciated and should be on your radar.

A big deck with heaters means you can hit Sessions with your dog for either lunch or dinner (or both, if your pooch is particularly patient). The service is a bit slow, but the food is good - get the cheese plate - and the beer list is top-notch. If you can teach your dog to go fetch you a drink menu from inside, you’ve been here too long.

While lots of restaurants in the Ferry Building have outdoor seating, Gott’s is the mother of them all. It has the most seats and the most space - plus, the fact that it’s on the street side means there are fewer seagulls. (This might not seem like a big deal until you’ve been personally victimized by the Regina George of seagulls.) Essentially, at Gott’s, the odds that a bird will viciously attack you and your lunch until you cower under the table whimpering for mercy are lower. It will also help that you have your dog to scare any particularly ambitious birds away. The tuna burger is our current favorite, but pretty much everything is good.